iftmjj flf €>m%%tn. 




UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



"■I 



THE 



TEMPERANCE TOKEN. 



BY 



DELIA A. HUDSON. 



HAMPTON, N. Y. 



"Wine is a mocker, strong drink if -,,„:„„, ...... 

deceived thereby is not wise." J ra gmg. and whosoever is 

Prev. 20. 1. 



_. 



CHRONICLE PRINT, WHITEHALL, K, V 



1858, 



>H6 



CONTENTS. 



1. The Vices of Intemperance. 

2. An Address. 

3. The Pool of Fate. 

4. The Star of Hope. 

5. Thy Brother calls thee. 

6. The Brother's Greeting. 
1. The Maniac. 



Entered, according to Act of Confess, in the year 1853, 

By DELIA A. HUDSON, 

m the Clerks Office of the District Court for the Northern District of 

New* York. 



THE 



VICES OF INTEMPERANCE 



Were the heavens rendered vocal by one concentrated 
explosion of every peal of thunder that has ever dis- 
charged its tremendous artillery across the trackless 
waste above, and endowed with the power of language, 
faint would be its articulations compared with the deaf- 
ening yell of despair that arises from the stagnant pool of 
Intemperance. Were every pang, which has distorted 
natures's face, and her dark heart convulsed with fearful 
throes, to act with combined effort, and rend her from 
centre to circumference, feeble would be the shock com- 
pared to that experienced by lost souls, perjured by In- 
temperance. Were the whole family of nights, that 
has earth, since her day-spring, with shadows overcast, 
to be laid in one continuous layer across the vaulted 
surface of the sky, her darkness would be day, and lu- 
minous her zenith, compared to the moral night spread 
abroad over the habitable globe by the ungodly hand of 
Intemperance. And if, in a comparative sense, the 
expressions of nature's sublimest phenomena are insuf- 
ficient to portray the attending evils and fearful results 
of that vice of vices, feeble indeed must be the efforts of 
one of earth's frailest ones, in denouncing against an exten- 
sively prevailing evil that has become inveterate from 



4- THE VICES OF INTEMPERANCE. 

age ; but feeble and inadequate as those efforts may be v 
they are willingly proffered, hoping that some good may 
be done through the aid and influence of Him who, in 
former times, chose the weak things of this world to 
confound the wise. Every community, where the vile 
traffic of ardent spirits is countenanced by law, or per- 
mitted by the suffrage of the majority, feels to a fearful 
extent the benighting influence which it invariably pro- 
duces. It is with feelings of horror and disgust that we 
contemplate the darkened and degraded condition of so- 
ciety at large, and the direful havoc which debauchery 
is making, although it seems imperceptible to some, es- 
pecially those whose worldly interests are intimately 
connected with this horrid commerce. In whatever di- 
rection the eye extends, we see this huge Leviathan, 
with as many hissing heads as the fabled monster of ' 
Lern's lake, carrying on with wonderful success his work 
of ^carnage; leading captive all classes and ages, irre- 
spective of degree, station, or sex. There is no place 
impervious to his approach ; none so high but what he 
brings low ; none so difficult of ascent but what he easily 
scales ; none so sacred but what he pollutes with his 
unhallowed presence. And there is no deed, however 
dark and damning — no plot, however subtle and ex- 
tended in its bearings — no work of madness, iniquity 
and folly, but what he is sufficient for the execution 
thereof. He has marched, with mighty strides, into the 
halls of legislation ; and with clamorous tongue is last 
and longest heard in the high debate, regulating and 
executing the laws by which our powerful republic is to 
be controlled and governed ; and a suffering nation must 
abide the consequences of a rash judgment, bereft of its 
strength and beauty by the defacing influence of Intem- 
-peranoe. 

You will find him, too, paraded in disguise on Zion's 
parapets, a professed watchman there. Emboldened by 
the thickly- woven fabric of hypocrisy, that shields him 
from the eye of detection, he thrusts his hissing head 
into the most holy place, and dons the priestly robes, 
and, with solemn mockery, the chalice licks— greedy of 
aught, withal, that scents of his favored drink. In holy 



THE VICES OF INTEMPERANCE. 

garments, too, you will see him coiled, occupying the 

highest seat in the sanctuary, with humble seeming, 
loudest in praise, most fervent in prayer ; but, perchance, 
ere the Sabbath's holy light fades away, you will find 
him, disrobed of his christain attire, making merry over 
the sparkling wine, which mocks him for his ill-timed 
joy, by giving the infatuated being in mortal form an 
increase of bodily sufferings, mental anxieties, and de- 
pression of spirits, which he being unable to interpret, 
only seeks the wine-cup more, thinking to drown his 
sorrows there, and forget his woes, — which soon his 
frenzied joy to madness turns, and, at last, his polluted 
dust consigns to an ignominious rest in the drunkard's 
grave. *' But they also have erred through wine, through 
strong'drink are out of the way : the priest and the prophet 
have erred through strong drink ; they are swallowed 
up of wine, they are out of the way through strong 
drink ; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment." — 
Isa. 28. 7. 

Where literature and science hold their enraptured 
auditory entranced, inebriety and dissipation have access 
found, their halls in mourning draped, and itself en- 
shrined in the hearts of their most gifted votaries. It 
has buried their researches in oblivion — blunted the 
finest intellects — wasted the noblest thoughts on artifi- 
cial joys and imaginary bliss. The same blighting 
scourge has walked abroad into refined society, and left 
his withering signet there. Almost daily, living speci- 
mens of this deforming vice are brought under our 
notice ; and it is with sorrow and deep regret, that we 
note the ravages it is making ; the corroding influence 
it has, wearing away and wasting the most beautiful 
places. The aged, and middle-aged ; those just entering 
manhood, and in the flower of youth, — all alike fall an 
easy prey to this intellect-debasing, soul-destroying, 
heaven-desolating, hell-increasing agency, which has de- 
stroyed, with powerful effect, the most gifted of our land, 
and extinguished many of Israel's most brilliant lights. 
The highest as well as the lowest walks of life are sub- 
ject to its fearful depredations. Not infrequently, you. 
will see the hissing viper stalking about in broadcloth 



b THE VICES OF INTEMPETANCE. 

and fine Tinen, with as mucb pomposity as though the % 
earth was formed of materials too gross for him to tread r 
and scarce deigns a look of gracious condescension to an 
object '(perhaps of honest worth) whom fate has doomed 
to be a mortal, but not of such an airy mould, or conse- 
quential miem, as characterizes his own wonderful self; 
but thinks it not disreputable to his honor, or injustice 
to his maker, to frequent the abode of obscenity — to 
revel in debauchery — to worship at the shrine of Bac- 
chus with infamy — and willingly claims kindred spirits 
in shame which he, in the presence of the public eye, 
would scorn to acknowledge as accomplices of his guilt. 
But a decent apparel is not long the garb of the lovers 
of strong drink. They soon exchange their silken robes 
for filthy rags, their downy beds and intelligent compan- 
ions for a couch in the gutter with the indolent swine, 
which is 'Usually the goal of all drunkards this side of 
eternity. 

But alas 1 what hath not intemperance done ? It 
has desecrated the Sabbath, violated the law, instigated 
rapine, robbery, licentiousness, murder, broken hearts, 
desolated homes, and in fact there are no evils but what 
may be attributed to the exciting influence of intoxica- 
ting drinks. Go ask the prisoner in his cell, what sealed 
to him a felon's doom ? Will he not tell you that in a 
season of blind madness, when the glorious intelligence, 
which God had given him, was sunk into nothing but 
hatred, anger, malice and revenge, and in passion's 
darkest whirl, that he imbrued his hands in the crimson 
gore of some fellow-being ? Perhaps it was her he 
robbed of life, whom he, in youth's bright day, with 
wildest words of softest tone her young heart won — with 
plighted faith had claimed his cherished own. Per- 
chance upon those helpless babes, whom he had given 
an eternal being, fell, tornado-like, the sum of his ireful 
rage, sending them, with curses, to God's tribune, to 
await him there. There, too, will they, with their dread 
testimony, seal his eternal destiny. Go ask the young 
wife, in whose glossy tresses the bridal rose still blushes, 
why she thus early weeps ? Will she not tell you that 
it is the first intimation of the marauding foe that is 



T«EKE VICES OF INTEMPERANCE. / 

lurking Dear, threatening to overwhelm life's- frail 'Basque 
with tempests, clouds and storms ? You trace her? way 
through life, and you will find that it extends- through a 
troubled deep. Enter her home of indigenes and want, 
and you will see squalid misery depicted in every feature 
of that half-famished, shivering group. Cheerless the scene 
as Greenland's frozen wastes, ray less as a polar night, and 
barren of joy as Sahara's arid sands. But her hour is 
come. The sands of lite are run ; and as blandly falls 
death's chilling breath on her attenuated form, as the 
soft, warm breezes from the land of smiles arid flowers, 
compared with the cold winds of want that have long 
howled around her dwelling. Ask her now, ^rhon> was 
that lined her path with thorns, and bereft her of- every 
joy ? Will she not look up through the mist* of death 
and tell you that it was Intemperance \ But where is 
he who sustained the responsible relation of husband to 
the now cold and silent one, and of father to her more 
than orphaned children, which are doomed to poverty 
and disgrace, wretchedness and woe, because they have 
the misfortune to be the offspring of a shameless drunk- 
ard ! At his favorite haunt he may be found, a besotted 
wretch, wallowing in all the filth of inebriation \ every 
kindred tie and nobler feelling being severed and cor- 
rupted by rum, accursed rum, and on awakening to a 
consciousness that one of his long- neglected family has 
passed from earth away, he may attempt to weepy but 
'tis not tears he weeps, 'tis rum, accursed rum. His 
faint reaches at mourning are soon forgot in the lava- 
stream of intemperance, which is rolling him down to a 
fearful doom w T ith the impetuosity of a roaring torrent, 
and at last his vital powers destroys, and sends him, 
amid all the horrors of delirium, a shipwrecked ghost, 
to the infernal regions, where the the sons of perdition, 
with exulting shouts of fiendish joy, hail the dupe of 
rum, No one weeps o'er his unhallowed dust, or the 
soul's absence regrets ; but society more freely breathes, 
feeling that she is unburthened of a curse, a pest, a 
scourge. "Where, Oh, where, unhappy man ! is the 
health, wealth, virtue, youth, beauty, friends and happi- 
ness, which you once possessed ? All, all, are sacrificed. 



i 



8 TH3 VICES OF INTEMPERANCE. 

to satisfy the abominable cravings of an unnatural appe- 
tite for the venomous serpent of the still, which fails not 
to leave the slime of its trail on the soul, and the poison 
of its foam in the wound which is inflicted by its bite. 
Mirth may crown the drunkard's feasts for a season, but 
their joy will be turned to mourning ; their hearts will 
languish ; their mirth will be turned to sighing, and 
their laughter to lamentations. " They shall not drink 
wine with a song ; strong drink shall be bitter to them 
that drink it."— Isa. 24. 9. 

Long has the dark clouds of intemperance hovered 
o'er us, brooding despair, wretchedness and folly. Long 
have we breathed the destructive miasma arising from 
the fetid rum-shops, which are nothing less than the 
depots of hell, — for it is there the unwary traveler re- 
ceives his card which secures him a ready passport down 
the stvgian tide which has Ion or rolled onward, with dis- 
mal roar, bearing immortal souls, wrecked among the 
shoals of debauchery, to the eternal world. But could 
that billowy surge return one wail of those lost ones 
from the black shades of endless night, day's blooming 
brow would midnight blush, night's dusky face would 
ask for darker shades, earth in agony would writhe, and 
mortal man would stand aghast, 

And beneath Lethe's still, cold wave 
Would vainly seek a silent grave. 

But who is it that is freighting this dark stream with 
its imperishable cargo ? Is it not he who guards, like 
the triple-headed clog Cerberus, the entrance to the in- 
fernal regions, wmose signature is a black banner, around 
which is coiled his most Satanic Majesty, in all his ef- 
frayable deformity, upon which is written, in unmis- 
takable characters, " Rumseller"— which signifies the 
progenitor of every vice. And as he possesses an insa- 
tiable desire to acquit himself a faithful servant in his 
master's service, he holds out his every art of effascina- 
tion, promising joy unmixed with grief, pleasures with- 
out alloy, friends and happiness untold, — thus inducing 
those deluded beings to take the first step of error. 
Here commences the drunkard's career. The first drink 
txit inflames the nppefite for more; moderate drinking 



THE VICES OF IXTEMAERAXCE 9 

follows in its wake ; then follows dissipation and frantic 
reveling o'er the midnight bowl. Meanwhile, the rum- 
seller holds firm in his lion grasp the dupes of his diabol- 
ical wiles, and is hurling them headlong down the preci- 
pice of crime, as rapidly as an increasing indulgence in 
vicious habits will permit. And how does the rum- 
seller succeed with his cunningly devised scheme of de- 
struction ? He has succeeded in robbing his abandoned 
patrons of their manhood, reputation, their houses and 
their lands, beggared their families, spread the gloom of 
the grave around their homes, and in return has clothed 
them with rags, filled their brains with mania,, given 
them a crimson, bloated visage, blood-shot eyes, a reel- 
ing, staggering gait; and when they have spent their all 
in rioting and ribald jests, he sends them forth to sing 
their bacchanalian songs to the wind, and dream away 
their drunken fumes in some open shed, with a cold turf 
for a pillow. 

It is too sad and lamentably true that such depre- 
dations upon societ} r are tolerated in a community that 
claims a share of respectability and moral worth. But 
how long will it be permitted ? how long shall the iron 
despotism of Alcohol bear rule with undisputed sway % 
How long, ye creatures of clay ! will you be branded 
as your brother's murderer ? — yea, more than murderer — 
for you not only the body blight with noisome diseases, 
and cast around him the deepest penury, but you also 
institute a means by which he loses his soul ! How 
long will ye wander about with aspect malign, feasting 
on human pre}', and striking innocent hearts with terror 
dumb with your malicious presence % How long will 
you deem it a pleasant thing to work in open rebellion 
to the laws of God, and seek the certain ruin of his 
creatures. You may now consider it honorable thus to 
trifle with man's eternal as well as his temporal interests, 
because you are justified by a certain class whose princi- 
ples are not principles, but merely borne on the waves of 
chance, fluctuated by every wind, — -who are not seeking 
the general good, but are only aiming at self-aggran- 
dizement. Hence, they would not dare publicly to pro- 



10 THE VICES OF INTEMPERANCE. 

test against the misrule of the worthless and reckless,— 
especially you who traffic in men's souls, — -for by artful 
insinuations you have been able to gain a large circle of 
advocates, which may be known by the lovers of strong 
drink which throng our streets, and the amount of misery 
everywhere visible, entailed upon humanity by an inor- 
dinate use of acoholic drinks. Therefore, should that 
part of the population, which cherishes with such strange 
delight the intoxicating cup, be taken from the balance, 
they would never enjoy the inexpressible satisfaction of 
arriving at those posts of honor for which they so ar- 
dently aspire. You may pass along in your infamous 
career without much interruption in this life ; neverthe- 
less, be assured there will a time of retribution come. 
When guile shall stand unmasked, and bankrupt man 
the due reward of his failures here receives, then in the 
foremost ranks of crime the rumseller and the drunkard 
will appear, and heavier upon their smarting backs will 
fall the iron lashes of the long-provoked wrath of God, 
attended with the pent-up groans which have ascended 
to the throne of Heaven's Supreme Majesty from the 
abodes of the thousands of suffering humanity, debased 
and brought low by an excessive use of ardent spirits ; 
and, to dye with deeper stain their already guilty souls, 
will be outpoured, with just indignation, oceans of tears, 
shed by their scathed wives and children, which have 
been treasured up against this day of wrath. And 
when re-echoes, with solemn din, throughout the wide- 
spread universe, Jehovah's fearful denunciation, " Depart 
from me, all ye workers iniquity," — will they betake 
themselves with rapid speed, to screen their monster 
forms from his pending ire, beneath hell's boiling waves, 
;and to be incarcerated within its lowest depths, chained 
on a bed of living embers, subject to the scourging lashes 
of conscience' guilty sting, — a prey to the gnawing pangs 
of unrelenting remorse, and forever listening to the 
drunkard's wail of foul reproach, rendered monstrous 
with that of every other crime, is the rnmselhr \s eternal 
doom. 



AN ADDRESS. 



11 



AN ADDRESS, 



[The following was delivered before the Sons of Temperance of 
Mount Morris Division No. 39, Hampton, N. Y., attending the 
presentation of a Bible by the ladies of H.] 



Sir, — The ladies of H., as a demonstration of their 
respect and esteem, present to the Order of S. of T. of 
M. M. . Division, a Bible, attended with their sincere 
prayers that the holy precepts, which ilumine its every 
page, may encircle your hearts with their inspiring truths, 
and light you on in duty's way, enabling you to guide 
the erring, unfortunate wanderer from ruin's depth to 
wisdom's height, and raise the fallen from the dust. 

It is also our earnest desire that you may prove your- 
selves a noble fraternity, actuated by the purest princi- 
ples, contending valiantly for the overthrow of that 
tyrant Rum, which holds its millions enslaved; whose 
destroying influence has passed like a blight and a mil- 



dew o'er our earth, p despoiling man- 
work. 



■creation s noblest 



who in the image of his God was made — of all 
that is pure and lovely ; extinguishing reason's light ; 
the soul in darkness clothes ; disorders all that is health- 
ful ; renders the heart the seat of every vice ; the dark 
abyss where passion, unconstrained, its sad revelings 
holds. Thus degraded, man below the bestial sinks. 

Many are the melancholy evidences, even in our own 
limited circle of acquaintance, of the ruinous devastation 
which attends the footsteps of the hideous monster In- 
temperance, — which assaults with all his forces the 
mortal fabric, stamping it with the indelible impress of 
death and decay ; mournfully chanting the requiem of 
departed virtue, withered joys, blighted prospects, and 
distorting the comely features of the intellect with his 
infernal agencies ; crushing the heaven-born powers and 



12 a:t address. 

strength, which man by birth-right possesses, with his 
horrid enginery. And thus will it ever be, as lono- as 
man deems it a privilege to slay his brother, man, by 
dealing out death and destruction in the form of intoxi- 
cating drinks ; thus openly robbing w;ives and children 
of food and raiment, unmindful of their cries and tears, 
and famished wail ; bidding joy and happiness depart at 
his approach, while sorrow's clouds, dark and porten- 
tous, linger near. Peace dwelleth not in their habita- 
tions, as long as the poor misguided inebriate has a 
sixpence left, and the infamous rumseller has a glass of 
liquor for sale. But, " Woe unto him that giveth his 
neighbor drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and 
makest him drunken also ;" and woe to the drunkard, 
" whose beauty is like a fading flower, ? who forgetteth 
the law and perverteth judgment ; yea, also, because he 
transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keep- 
eth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as 
death and cannot be satisfied." 

We have seen the man, whose head was white with 
age, who on the grave's brink trembling stood, holding 
poverty and disgrace by the hand, with which he had 
long been conversant, press the goblet to his lips and 
quaff 1 the accursed draft with all the fondness with which 
a mother would caress her offspring ! Others have we 
seen in manhood's strength, precipitated headlong, — a 
lifeless, useless mass of clay, as void of sense or under- 
standing as the dark clod of earth on which he lay ; a 
monument of vice and guilt, w r oe and degradation ; the 
slave of appetite ; the most ignoble of his kind ; a dis- 
gusting sight, from which the eye of temperance and 
sobriety w T ouid loathingly revolt. Oft, too, have' we 
gazed on those that were wandering, step by step, down 
the steeps of shame, and seemed completely won by the 
charmer's seductive smiles ; that strode on unconscious 
of the dark abysm, whose sepulchral mouth, wide as the 
gates of hell, convulsively yawned to receive them. The 
syren's song hath lured unthinking youth from virtue's 
side, washed his hands in crime, steeped his heart in 
guilt, scorched his veins with her burning tide, crisped 
and seared the better feelings of his nature — dimmed 



AN ADDRESS. 13 

and bleared his eyes with sin, and a mournful crown of 
shame entwined to clasp his youthful brow ! We have 
noted the unmitigated anguish which rends the heart of 
the care-worn mother and the woe-stricken wife, weep- 
ing o'er her children's wants and the sufferings of her 
own heart — miseries entailed upon them by a brutalized 
husband and a drunken father. But what avails the 
cries, tears, and piteous moans of suffering ones — suffer- 
ing for sins they never committed. Ah ! nothing. They 
only tend to deepen the clouds of despair, which cast 
their chilling shades around their -way — for hard as ada- 
mant is the drunkard's heart, and as incapable of feeling- 
is the rumseller. 

Then it is for you, who stand on higher ground, who 
have pledged yourselves with solemn vows to support 
the temperance cause, and aid in the great reform, to 
attack this formidable foe, and save your fellow-beings 
from the inevitable destruction which awaits them ; raise 
higher the standard of your might in defiance of opposi- 
tion's storm, or the adversary's stern array, and greater- 
conquests shall be yours than ever was by warrior w r on 
on the battle-field. The contest may be long and severe ; 
for this power of the prince of darkness has a strong- 
foothold gained, and rules the appetite of man with an 
iron sway ; but put your trust in Him who in his power 
propels the planets in their orbitual rounds, and with 
his strength supports the universe— filling all space with 
the majesty of purpose, and the beauty of design. — 
Cease not to act as long as this subtle poison — fit drink 
of demons — remains in our land ; for as long as it re- 
mains, just so long will its influence be felt — an influ- 
ence in its effects more deadly than the Upas' shade, or 
poisonous than the serpent's bite — for it not only the 
body kills, but sends the immortal part, the essence di- 
vine, a stranded soul down to misery's vale; affright- 
ing the arch fiend from off his sulphurous throne with 
its blasphemous wail, waking those ebon depths with 
horrid cries — and doomed there to languish forever on 
that tartarean shore, engulphed in tormenting pains and 
hideous scenes of woe. Bid those " awake, weep and 
howl, that tarry long at the wine, that have erred 



14 AIT ADDED'.. 

through strong drink ; " for God will exercise the might 
of .his wrath upon them in the day of vengeance ; for 
it is written, " A drunkard shall not inherit the kingdom 
of God." Take, O take this hydra monster, whose in- 
fectious breath is worse than plague or pestilence, from 
the path of youth. Allow them not to " Look upon 
w r ine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, 
when it moveth itself aright." Free them from the 
tempters snare, ere they become entangled in its fearful 
meshes, or feel its ponderous weight resting like an in- 
cubus upon their souls. 

You who are actively engaged on life's arena, must 
soon pass away, and your heads will be pillowed low in 
the dust. It is then that the lasting dower of temper- 
ance, bequeathed to your children, which will occupy 
the place of their fathers, will redound honors to your 
names. If they are but permitted to come up to the 
judgment halls of the nation, sober and right-thinking 
men, instead of that wild disorder, which moves like a 
disturbing influence among the public minds, exciting 
intrigue, injustice, and dishonesty of purpose, tranquillity 
and order will exist, wisdom and equity will charac- 
terize their doings, the quietude of home will no more 
be disturbed, and millenial gladness will reign in every 
heart. Cease not your efforts until temperance 7 unsul- 
lied banners shall proudly wave o'er our fair republic. 
Then the prayers of thousands will arise, and many a 
chaplet weave with love, purity and fidelity, entwined 
to circle the brows of those who have dedicated them- 
selves to this glorious cause, and He who dispenses good 
to all will award you as your merits deserve. 



THE POOL OF FATE. 



THE POOL OF FATE. 



The glare of day is hushed with night's dark profound ; 
The cold winds of winter wail their mighty round — 
Then soft'ning to a sigh, the soul-sa&'ning breeze 
Its fitful dirge moans among the naked trees ; 
Then with a tempestuous glee, 
The ruthless storm, all wild and free, 
Holds its rigid, unbending reign 
On the mountain, and on the plain. 

Where the raging storm dwelt with a benumbing frown : 
Where the racking winds wore stern terror's dark crown ; 
There, with solemn awe, at the dark Pool of Fate, 
With sorrowing look, an aged mourner knelt : 
With bowed head at God's behest, 
And folded arms across her breast ; 
With fervid tones and accents wild, 
Protecting love craves for her child. 

The heaving groans of that dark, fathomless tide, 
Where the surging billows ever madly ride ; 
Or the mocking gale, that chilling sweeps her by, 
She heeds not — but unto Him who reigns on high 

She raises her fervent prayer, 

That He, in his heavenly care, 

Will send forth his power to save 

A loved son from a Drunkard's Grave ! 

Beside those waters, with aspect dark and drear, 
Doth a wasted form, with haggard looks, appear ; 
Meekly kneeling with the aged mourner there, 
She with agony yields her proffered prayer. 

With hands upraised, and upturned eye, 
She utters now her fearful cry — 
" Oh, send forth your power to save 
A husband from a DrurikarcVs Grave /" 



16 THE POOL OF FATE. 

i\ r ext, an infant band the shores of destiny 
Timidly approaches — moaning piteonsly ; 
For bread vainly they ask, vainly weep with cold 
To dally with their rags the chill blast makes bold. 
Each infant tongue above those waves 
This appeal to Heaven doth raise — 
" Oh, send forth your power to save 
A father from a -Drunkard's Grave!" 

With hair disheveled, and faint with sorrow's food, 
A youthful maiden, weeping, nears the dark flood ; 
The lilv dwells where the rose has fled her cheek, 
As, meekly kneeling, her plaint with accents weak 

She murmurs for friend and lover, 

And for a father and brother ; 

Her spirit sighs to God to save 

Each loved one from a Drunkard' s Grave /'* 

But lo ! the mad'nmg storm has ceased its raging ; 

Sunlight from the orient skv is gleaming ; 

In the wind's pathway is- heard a dulcet sound ; 

Destiny's waves no more in wrath resound ; 
But remains that pale band there, 
Lingering in fervent prayer 
To Him who hath power to save 
Each loved one from a Drunkard's Grave! 

A glorious morn In beauty is breaking ; 

A noble army of victors are shouting ; 

Look ! ye pale ones, that are waiting in prayer. 

Father and brother, friend and lover, are there. 

Proudly their banners are waving ; 

Loudly their anthems are pealing 

To Him wdio was able to save 

Each erring one from a Drunkard's Grave ■ 



THE STAR OF HOPE, 17 



THE STAR OF HOPE. 



Morning Star of Hope, arising 

In the eastern horizon, 
Mildly falls your glowing lustre, 

Where Folly's lamp late did burn, 

Like the blushing tints of morning, 
Heralding the orb of day — 

So dost thou, in splendor rolling, 
An approaching dawn portray. 

Long will an unfading glory 

Shed effulgence round your name ;■ 

First in the Temperance triumph 
Art thou, imperial Maine. 

As a beacon light we hail you, 

A guide through the misty gloom ; 

Thou wilt nerve us for the contest, 
Until* we've the contest won. 

And when the victoiy is ours, 
We'll raise an exulting song. 

That the monster Intemperance 
Is no more our foes among. 



THY BROTHER CALLS IHKK. 



THY MOTHER CALLS THEE 



Thy brother calls — 0, heed his cry ! 

For darkest sins beset his way ; 
Extend thine aid or he must die, 

And pass to darker shades away, 

Thou mayest yet the wanderer save. 

And turn his erring feet from guile ; 
Thou mayest from a drunkard's grave 

Save Misery's own fallen child. 
: , 
Long has he wended through the dark, 

His lonely, cold and cheerless way, 
Where vice emits no friendly spark 

To point him to a fairer day. 

Be thou a light ? mid the darkness 
To guide the wand'rer on his way, 

Through the barren wastes so cheerless. 
To where the lucid waters play. 



Does he sigh for cooling water ? 

lead him to the crystal urn ! 
It will cool his mind's parched fever.. 

His footsteps 'twill from ruin turn, 

Does sorrow now depress his soul ? 

Or gropes he through a gloomy way \ 
iead him to the crystal pool, 

Where the eddying currents pi 

; a his soul in the bright streamlet, 
Purling where sylvan shadows brood ;■ 
Fhere is virtue in the vrtfrelet, 
And there is healing in the flood. 



THE BROTHERS' GREETING, 19 



THE BROTHERS' GREETING. 



Welcome, brothers, all hail to you ; 

Your footsteps now betoken peace ; 
And the mottoes on your ensigns 
Mildly speak a glad release. 

Hail, all hail, the Temperance Morn, 
That ushers in the great reform — 
When Bum, with all its-kindred train, 
Within a lowly tomb is lain. 

'Tis with gladness we receive you ; 

Beaming love your countenance wears ; 
Kindly aiding the degraded ; 

Healing wounds that misery tears. 
Hail, all hail, &c. 

With unfeigned joy do we greet you ; 

Truth stamps each honored brow of thine, 
Enwreathed with spotless purity, — 

Free from the baneful, mocking wine. 
Hail, all hail, <fec. 

Faithful in duty's sacred trust, 

Loyally binding all as one ; 
Firmly, manfully to contend 

For overthrow of demon Rum. 
Hail, all hail, <fcc. 



Welcome, brothers, all hail to you ; 

Your footsteps now betoken peace 
And the mottoes on your ensigns 

Mildly speak a glad release, 
Hail, all hail, <fec. 



20 THE MANIAC, 



THE MANIAC. 



When passing by a darkened cell, 
"Where bolts and bars confined her well, 
The Maniac, with mournful plaint, 
Did us with her sad tale acquaint. 

With a beseeching look and tone, 
She us addressed with plaintive moan : 
a Where does Francacella tarry, 
Wee Willie, and lovely Carry ? 

" For them I've searched the haunts of men, 
In gloomy vale and distant glen ; 
All o'er the wilds for them I've sought : 
"lis useless all — I've found them not. 

" I wandered long away from home, 
O'er hill and dale, and forest lone ; — 
Then they brought me over the plains, 
And strong men bound me in these chains. 

" They told me I was mad and wild, 
And called me dark terror's child ; — 
I am but a sorrowing bride 
That mourns her love at Arnack's side. 

They call me mad, they call me wild, 
And strive my sorrows to beguile ; 
There is nought my griefs can smother— 
I am but a mourning mother, 

" That unwearied hath sought her babes 
In noontide heats and cooling shades ; 
And mourns her love at evening tide, 
Down by the Arnack's gloomy side. 



THE MANIAC. 21 

" Time was, when, with propitious ray, 
Youth, beauty did around me stray ; 
Then to woo the fair Adella 
Came the brave, young Francacella. 

" Rich pleasures did our home possess, 
Where love did ne'er a joy suppress ; 
The rose bloomed freshly in the morn, 
But faded soon — and left the thorn. 

" Not far away, in a lowly glen, 
A pois'nous Viper had a den ; 
It was down by the Arnack's side. 
Where moves a slow and turbid tide. 

" 'Twas a dark spot — foul was the air, 
Where fiends and devils did repair. 
Mortals, that breathed the Viper's breath, 
'Twas sure to taint with moral death. 



" Francacella, at evening tide, 
Thoughtless strayed by the Arnack's side — 
Heedless came to the den of hell, 
The Viper's numbers there to swell. 

"With arch device, his forked tongue 
Soft pleasures deceitfully sung ; 
Francacella, with the music's spell, 
Was allured to the courts of hell. 

*■ Weeks, months and years I've watched in vain ; 
From those halls he ne'er came again— 
Ne'er to soothe the lone Adella, 
Came the once brave Francacella. 

" But oft a bloated visage came, 
And, stammering, call'd me by name ; 
He sang the vices of that den, 
Which was lined with the souls of men. 



22 THE MANIAC. 

" Soon was gone our once liappy home. 
And in its stead a garret lone, 
Where hung the damp, the chill, the mould, 
Where reigned the storm, the wind, the cold, 

" Once on a time, in quest of bread 
Keturned, I found my sweet babes dead ; 
Their gaping wounds, and forms so cold, 
Bespoke the murd'rer's visit bold. 

u It w T as said, at the Viper's den 
On that night, in the lowly glen, 
Down by the Arnack's turbid tide, 
That Francacella strangely died." 

Like strangers, a few straggling beams 
Through the fatal bars faintly gleam, 
And dimly give the outlines fair 
Of the raving Maniac there. 

And still within that lowly glen 
The pois'nous Viper has his den ; 
And there, by the dark Arnack's side, 
Many a one hath strangely died. 



